Ordination - finally!
By that title I only
partially mean, "finally, he is ordained!" The primary reason for the title is that the event occurred nearly a month ago and it's taken me until now to post it. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this journey, I'll give a little background. Now I'm only starting the story with seminary, which he began in August 2003; we all know that many years of prayer & thought went into the process, let alone the Lord preparing him for such an endeavor... So anyway, Bobby & I moved to St Louis 3 months after getting married and he began studies at
Covenant Theological Seminary. Four very long (yet fun & exciting) years later, he graduated. With a desire to pursue a PhD, we found out that he would have to obtain another Masters degree (UGH!) so he enrolled in the MA in History degree program at
West Virginia University. And to our great fortune, my aunt & uncle offered for us to live in their (extra) log cabin which is only 30-45 minutes (depending on a lot of things) from campus. Yay. So we moved in on Memorial Day weekend, 2007. Of course once we were settled, the first thing we did (after getting drivers licenses &
Giant Eagle advantage cards) was
look for a PCA church and we found one 20 minutes away. Double yay. A few months after attending there, we met with a couple elders, offered our assistances and soon Bobby was the Youth Director. We were initially scared of teens (I mean, youth ministry), but we quickly grew to love them and this responsibility. Then as Bobby's relationship grew with the church, the Session, and our new Pastor, he was offered a call as Asst Pastor of Youth & Families, and could now pursue ordination. So exciting. Now the fun began. He studied for weeks & weeks, then took 5 written exams - he passed, then moved onto oral exams, and passed those too, and was recommended to the
Pittsburgh Presbytery for ordination as a teaching elder. Rock on. Now
my fun began. We started planning the event, buying cute little napkins, ordering special bulletins, and preparing for our guests. The date was set for November 23, 2008 at 3:00 here at Greene Valley Presbyterian Church. And now that we've made it to the event, here are some pictures. I have more to get from other people, but these were a few that I captured on my camera.
Bobby receiving the charge from Pastor Keith Larson.
Taking vows.
Laying on of hands by the ordained PCA elders who were in attendance. We were so thrilled that Erik was able to participate in this! This is the moment when I started crying.
The 2 hands benediction I mentioned in my last post. He finally got to do it and was too nervous to raise them all the way up. oh well, it was still awesome.
And now... cake!
The inlaws are coming! The inlaws are coming!
And we couldn't be more excited. We have been waiting for them to see where we live since we moved here back in May of last year. Bobby's parents, sister & grandma are set to arrive sometime tomorrow evening and they will be staying until next Wednesday. About 3 hours after that (give or take a couple hours) my parents will arrive and stay until the following Tuesday. Lots of family all around! This is so fitting that everyone will be here for such a joyous occasion this coming week because Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year/holiday. Oh, wait, did I forget to mention what the joyous occasion is?? Bobby's ordination service is
Sunday! Technically, Bobby was ordained by the Presbytery a month ago, but we waited until now to have his official service so that his family could be a part of it.
Pretty soon he'll get to do the two-hands-raised benediction!
Cutest animal pictures ever
And no, they're not even my animals! I know... doesn't seem possible. But one of them looks a lot like one of mine, so it sort of counts...
http://tinyurl.com/24tb2k
I thought it would be good to give you all a nice light-hearted post after my previous election day one that I don't even want to talk about! ugh.
Election Day Reflections
I voted at 8:30 this morning and was the 24th voter in our precinct. Shockingly, they had electronic, touch-screen voting machines. The reason I'm surprised by this is that we live in a very rural township, in the 3rd poorest county in Pennsylvania, no thanks to John Murtha. And speaking of Murtha... after all the national airtime & publicity he has been receiving, it was very weird to see him on our ballot. (If you're not aware, he called his constituents - western PA -
racist &
redneck. Nice guy.) He's also
infamous for
this. Obviously, I did not vote for him. Another observation, and this one should not have been a surprise to me... but the ballot was so short! I think there were only 6 items on the entire thing. It took only a couple minutes to fill the whole thing out compared to the cumbersome ones we had to fill out in St Louis in recent years. When I finished, I said out loud, "that's it?!" I got a weird look or two. So now we just wait and see what happens.
On another note, the weather here today is beautiful! As I remember past election days, I mostly remember rain. Especially when I was little, I would "work the polls" with my aunt & grandma, either handing out pencils & buttons, or helping the workers, getting them drinks, etc., I always remembering standing out in the cold rain. But there is no precipitation in sight today, just 70 degrees and sun. I wish I had the day off like Bobby does...
Jedi again
We had a little costume party with our Youth Group last Sunday night, and since I had spent so many hours making them a couple years ago, I declared that we were to be Jedi once again. The reaction wasn't quite as good as it was with our Atherton friends a couple years ago. Maybe adults are just more polite and complimentary than teenagers. But most likely I think it was because this crowd just was not much of a Star Wars-watching group. So sad. (And no, I am not a geeky Star Wars fanatic - just enjoy the movies, that's all.)
So here is a picture of us. The quality is poor because I saved it off of facebook and had to crop out the youth group kids in the picture.
Extreme Makeover - Hair Edition
Ok, so it's really not that extreme, I just wanted a clever title. After much deliberation, I got my hair cut last night. The blahs of the season change (even though this is my favorite) hit me and I needed a boost, so I got it in the form of a hair cut & highlight.
(these are simply NOT the greatest pictures of me so just look at the hair)
Before: Tuesday 5 pm
After: Wednesday 3 pm
You can't really see the color very well in these pictures, but it really is much blonder than yesterday.
He is ordained!
(I hope I spelled that correctly...)
Bobby just called and said he was unanimously approved for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in America. Woo hoo!!! I didn't get many details except that he only got 3 hours of sleep last night, preached horribly (I'm sure that's not true), and is extremely drained. He now has to sit through a transfer & a licensure before he can come home. I probably won't see him for a few more hours. I've already cleaned the whole house, packed away our summer clothes, and baked these yummy cupcakes waiting, what else can I do?!?! I'm so excited. :-)
This is it!
Bobby leaves tonight for the Pittsburgh Presbytery Retreat and tomorrow morning/afternoon (Saturday, October 18th) he will have his final round of ordination exams - typically referred to as the revered (and dreaded - in my mind) PRESBYTERY FLOOR EXAM. oooohh!!! Sounds scary, huh?
I will update as soon as I am notified of the result.
West Virginia football
A couple of weeks ago we finally got to go to a WVU football game. It was great and fun, but unfortunately we had to sit in the student section (which is general admission.) So not only did we feel super old being surrounded by a bunch of teenagers/early 20's, but we were mortified to hear how there can be many uses for that awful 4-letter curse word! You know the one I'm talking about. By the end, it was almost funny to hear how many times it can be used in one sentence. Ok, so it wasn't funny. But the overall experience was interesting & sometimes entertaining. So here are some pictures and some highlights of the game.
Tailgaters before the game. I was really impressed with how many people & campers there were. This photo really doesn't do it any justice.
Before the marching band took the field, I spotted the twirlers practicing, which would normally delight me. However, if you look closely at the one wearing pants, you'll understand why I had a different reaction.
Ok, so these two (and another one that you can't see) were quite the characters to say the least. The one with his arms up in the air did a count-down to when the band would be taking the field for pre-game. I am not kidding. He would shout, "4 MINUTES UNTIL WE SEE THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD!!!" Then he would repeat that at 3 mins, 2 mins, then counted down from 1 minute to 0 seconds, all while jumping up in the air & waving his arms. What a loon! Fortunately he calmed down during the game or we wouldn't have been able to see (or hear) anything.
Bobby & I trying to fit in as WVU undergrads.
This was another highlight... I couldn't wait until the game was over to hear the entire stadium sing "Country Roads." It was really cool. This photo also shows the final score: WVU 24, Rutgers 17.
Corny?
This post isn't really about me so I hope Danielle won't be mad, but in an effort to find something witty for her to see, I found this picture and couldn't pass it up.
I guess this is when you know you've "truly made it"... when someone carves your face into a cornfield!
